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N     THE     CLOSED     ROOM 


TIIK      PI.  A  V  IN(;     TO-DAV      WAS      KVKN     A     I.O  V  K  I.  I  K  It.     II  A  I' I1  IKK     TIIIN(; 
THAN     IT     HAD     hVKH     BKKN     KKI-OKK 

r /'./.;•    I") 


IN 

THE  CLOSED 
ROOM 


BY 
FRANCES    HODGSON    BURNETT 

AUTHOR  OF  LITTLE  LORD  FAUNTLEROY 
AND  THE  LITTLE  PRINCESS 


ILLUSTRATIONS      BY 
JESSIE     WILLCOX      SMITH 

NEW    YORK 

McCLURE,  PHILLIPS    &   CO. 
MCMIV 


O 


Copyright,   1904,  iy 
McCLURE,  PHILLIPS  &  CO. 

Published,  October,   1904 


COPYRIGHT,  1904,  BY  S.  S.  McCLURE  Co. 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 

THE  PLAYING  TO-DAY  WAS  EVEN  A  LOVE 
LIER,  HAPPIER  THING  THAN  IT  HAD 
EVER  BEEN  BEFORE  .  Frontispiece 


SHE  OFTEN  SAT  CURVING  HER  SMALL  LONG 
FINGERS  BACKWARD 

THEY  GAZED  AS  IF  THEY  HAD  KNOWN 
EACH  OTHER  FOR  AGES  OF  YEARS  . 

"COME  AND  PLAY  WITH  ME"       . 

SHE  MUST  GO  AND  STAND  AT  THE  DOOR 
AND  PRESS  HER  CHEEK  AGAINST  THE 
WOOD  AND  WAIT  — AND  LISTEN  . 

SHE  BEGAN  TO  MOUNT  THE  STAIRS  WHICH 
LED  TO  THE  UPPER  FLOORS  .... 

THE  LEDGE  OF  THE  WINDOW  WAS  SO  LOW 
THAT  A  MERE  STEP  TOOK  HER  OUTSIDE 

"I'M  GOING  UP  TO   PLAY   WITH  THE  LITTLE 
GIRL,   MOTHER    .     .     .    YOU   DON'T   MIND, 
DO  YOU?". 


28 
34 

62 
68 


100 


Hi 


2O1I820 


IN     THE     CLOSED     ROOM 


PA  RT    ONE 

\T  the  fierce  airless 
heat  of  the  small 
square  room  the 
child  Judith  panted 
as  she  lay  on  her  bed.  Her  father 
and  mother  slept  near  her,  drowned 
in  the  heavy  slumber  of  workers 
after  their  day's  labour.  Some 
people  in  the  next  flat  were  quar 
relling,  irritated  probably  by  the 
appalling  heat  and  their  miserable 
helplessness  against  it.  All  the 
hot  emanations  of  the  sun-baked 


^E>      J    IN     THE     CLOSED     ROOM       J2 


city  streets  seemed  to  combine  with 
their  clamour  and  unrest,  and  rise 
to  the  flat  in  which  the  child  lay 
gazing  at  the  darkness.  It  was  situ 
ated  but  a  few  feet  from  the  track  of 
the  Elevated  Railroad  and  existence 
seemed  to  pulsate  to  the  rush  and 
roar  of  the  demon  which  swept 
past  the  windows  every  few  min 
utes.  No  one  knew  that  Judith  held 
the  thing  in  horror,  but  it  was  a 
truth  that  she  did.  She  was  only 
seven  years  old,  and  at  that  age  it 
is  not  easy  to  explain  one's  self  so 
that  older  people  can  understand. 
4 


IN     THE     CLOSED     ROOM 


4fc 


She  could  only  have  said  "I  hate  it 
It  comes  so  fast.  It  is  always  com 
ing.  It  makes  a  sound  as  if  thun 
der  was  quite  close.  I  can  never  get 
away  from  it."  The  children  in  the 
other  flats  rather  liked  it.  They 
hung  out  of  the  window  perilously 
to  watch  it  thunder  past  and  to  see 
the  people  who  crowded  it  pressed 
close  together  in  the  seats,  standing 
in  the  aisles,  hanging  on  to  the 
straps.  Sometimes  in  the  evening 
there  were  people  in  it  who  were 
going  to  the  theatre,  and  the  women 
and  girls  were  dressed  in  light  col- 
5 


IN      THE     CLOSED     ROOM 

ours  and  wore  hats  covered  with 
white  feathers  and  flowers.  At  such 
times  the  children  were  delighted, 
and  Judith  used  to  hear  the  three 
in  the  next  flat  calling  out  to  each 
other,  "That's  my  lady!  That's 
my  lady!  That  one's  mine!" 

Judith  was  not  like  the  children 
in  the  other  flats.  She  was  a  frail, 
curious  creature,  with  silent  ways 
and  a  soft  voice  and  eyes.  She  liked 
to  play  by  herself  in  a  corner  of  the 
room  and  to  talk  to  herself  as  she 
played.  No  one  knew  what  she 
talked  about,  and  in  fact  no  one 
6 


IN     THE     CLOSED     ROOM 


* 


inquired.  Her  mother  was  always 
too  busy.  When  she  was  not  mak 
ing  men's  coats  by  the  score  at  the 
whizzing  sewing  machine,  she  was 
hurriedly  preparing  a  meal  which 
was  always  in  danger  of  being  late. 
There  was  the  breakfast,  which 
might  not  be  ready  in  time  for  her 
husband  to  reach  his  "shop"  when 
the  whistle  blew ;  there  was  the  sup 
per,  which  might  not  be  in  time  to 
be  in  waiting  for  him  when  he  re 
turned  in  the  evening.  The  midday 
meal  was  a  trifling  matter,  needing 
no  special  preparation.  One  ate 
7 


C* 


^R       JIN     THE     CLOSED     RO  O  M 

*    ~* 

anything  one  could  find  left  from 
supper  or  breakfast. 

Judith's  relation  to  her  father 
and  mother  was  not  a  very  intimate 
one.  They  were  too  hard  worked 
to  have  time  for  domestic  intima 
cies,  and  a  feature  of  their  acquain 
tance  was  that  though  neither  of 
them  was  sufficiently  articulate  to 
have  found  expression  for  the  fact 
—the  young  man  and  woman  felt 
the  child  vaguely  remote.  Their 
affection  for  her  was  tinged  with 
something  indefinitely  like  reve 
rence.  She  had  been  a  lovely  baby 
8 


IN     THE     CLOSED     ROOM 


with  a  peculiar  magnolia  whiteness 
of  skin  and  very  large,  sweetly 
smiling  eyes  of  dark  blue,  fringed 
with  quite  black  lashes.  She  had 
exquisite  pointed  fingers  and  slen 
der  feet,  and  though  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Foster  were—  perhaps  fortunately 
—  unaware  of  it,  she  had  been  not 
at  all  the  baby  one  would  have  ex 
pected  to  come  to  life  in  a  corner  of 
the  hive  of  a  workman's  flat  a  few 
feet  from  the  Elevated  Railroad. 

"Seems  sometimes  as  if  some 
how  she  couldn't  be  mine,"  Mrs. 
Foster  said  at  times.  "  She  ain't  like 
9 


qp 


« 


^F>       J  I  N     THE     CLOSED     ROOM      IjJ 

me,  an'  she  ain't  like  Jem  Foster, 
Lord  knows.  She  ain't  like  none 
of  either  of  our  families  I've  ever 
heard  of — 'ceptin'  it  might  be  her 
Aunt  Hester — but  she  died  long 
before  I  was  born.  I've  only  heard 
mother  tell  about  her.  She  was  a 
awful  pretty  girl.  Mother  said  she 
had  that  kind  of  lily-white  com 
plexion  and  long  slender  fingers 
that  was  so  supple  she  could  curl 
'em  back  like  they  was  double- 
jointed.  Her  eyes  was  big  and  had 
eyelashes  that  stood  out  round  'em, 
but  they  was  brown.  Mother  said 
10 


3s  9 


IN     THE     CLOSED     ROOM 


* 


she  wasn't  like  any  other  kind  of 
girl,  and  she  thinks  Judith  may 
turn  out  like  her.  She  wasn't  but 
fifteen  when  she  died.  She  never 
was  ill  in  her  life — but  one  morn 
ing  she  didn't  come  down  to  break 
fast,  and  when  they  went  up  to  call 
her,  there  she  was  sittin'  at  her  win 
dow  restin'  her  chin  on  her  hand, 
with  her  face  turned  up  smilin'  as 
if  she  was  talkin'  to  some  one.  The 
doctor  said  it  had  happened  hours 
before,  when  she  had  come  to  the 
window  to  look  at  the  stars.  Easy 
way  to  go,  wasn't  it  ?" 
11 


1 


;£> 


IN     THE     CLOSED     ROOM 


Judith  had  heard  of  her  Aunt 
Hester,  but  she  only  knew  that  she 
herself  had  hands  like  her  and  that 
her  life  had  ended  when  she  was 
quite  young.  Mrs.  Foster  was  too 
much  occupied  by  the  strenuous- 
ness  of  life  to  dwell  upon  the  pass 
ing  of  souls.  To  her  the  girl  Hes 
ter  seemed  too  remote  to  appear 
quite  real.  The  legends  of  her 
beauty  and  unlikeness  to  other 
girls  seemed  rather  like  a  sort  of 
romance. 

As  she  was  not  aware  that  Judith 
hated  the  Elevated  Railroad,  so  she 


fllf        flN     THE     CLOSED     ROOM 

ft    ^ 


was  not  aware  that  she  was  fond  of 
the  far  away  Aunt  Hester  with  the 
long-pointed  fingers  which  could 
curl  backwards.  She  did  not  know 
that  when  she  was  playing  in  her 
corner  of  the  room,  where  it  was 
her  way  to  sit  on  her  little  chair 
with  her  face  turned  towards  the 
wall,  she  often  sat  curving  her 
small  long  fingers  backward  and 
talking  to  herself  about  Aunt  Hes 
ter.  But  this — as  well  as  many 
other  things — was  true.  It  was 
not  secretiveness  which  caused  the 
child  to  refrain  from  speaking  of 
13 


IN     THE     CLOSED     ROOM 


certain  things.  She  herself  could 
not  have  explained  the  reasons  for 
her  silence;  also  it  had  never  oc 
curred  to  her  that  explanation  and 
reasons  were  necessary.  Her  men 
tal  attitude  was  that  of  a  child  who, 
knowing  a  certain  language,  does 
not  speak  it  to  those  who  have 
never  heard  and  are  wholly  igno 
rant  of  it.  She  knew  her  Aunt 
Hester  as  her  mother  did  not.  She 
had  seen  her  often  in  her  dreams 
and  had  a  secret  fancy  that  she 
could  dream  of  her  when  she  wish 
ed  to  do  so.  She  was  very  fond 
14 


>KTi-:x    s.vr    critvi\<;    IIKII     s  M  A  1. 1.    i.oxc;     KINCKKS 
11  AC  K  \v  A  i:  i) 


MW  *    I      IN     THE     CLOSED     ROOMJ     JI^ 

of  dreaming  of  her.  The  places 
where  she  came  upon  Aunt  Hester 
were  strange  and  lovely  places 
where  the  air  one  breathed  smelled 
like  flowers  and  everything  was 
lovely  in  a  new  way,  and  when  one 
moved  one  felt  so  light  that  move 
ment  was  delightful,  and  when  one 
wakened  one  had  not  quite  got 
over  the  lightness  and  for  a  few 
moments  felt  as  if  one  would  float 
out  of  bed. 

The  healthy,   vigourous    young 
couple  who  were  the  child's  par 
ents  were  in  a  healthy,  earthly  way 
15 


^*>       1     IN     THE     CLOSED     ROOM      ^ 


very  fond  of  each  other.  They  had 
made  a  genuine  love  match  and 
had  found  it  satisfactory.  The 
young  mechanic  Jem  Foster  had 
met  the  young  shop-girl  Jane  Har 
dy,  at  Coney  Island  one  summer 
night  and  had  become  at  once 
enamoured  of  her  shop-girl  good 
looks  and  high  spirits.  They  had 
married  as  soon  as  Jem  had  had 
the  "raise"  he  was  anticipating 
and  had  from  that  time  lived  with 
much  harmony  in  the  flat  building 
by  which  the  Elevated  train  rushed 
and  roared  every  few  minutes 
16 


IN     THE     CLOSED     ROOM 


through  the  day  and  a  greater  part 
of  the  night.  They  themselves  did 
not  object  to  the  "Elavated";  Jem 
was  habituated  to  uproar  in  the 
machine  shop,  in  which  he  spent 
his  days,  and  Jane  was  too  much 
absorbed  in  the  making  of  men's 
coats  by  the  dozens  to  observe  any 
thing  else.  The  pair  had  healthy 
appetites  and  slept  well  after  their 
day's  work,  hearty  supper,  long 
cheerful  talk,  and  loud  laughter 
over  simple  common  joking. 

"She's  a  queer  little  fish,  Judy," 
Jane  said  to  her  husband  as  they 
17 


^if        f    IN     THE     CLOSED     ROOM  fl^ 

*  « 

sat  by  the  open  window  one  night, 
Jem's  arm  curved  comfortably 
around  the  young  woman's  waist 
as  he  smoked  his  pipe.  "What  do 
you  think  she  says  to  me  to-night 
after  I  put  her  to  bed?" 

"Search  me!"  said  Jem  oracu 
larly. 

Jane  laughed. 

'Why,'  she  says,  *I  wish  the 
Elavated  train  would  stop.' 

"'Why?' says  I. 

' '  I  want  to  go  to  sleep,'  says  she. 
1  I'm  going  to  dream  of  Aunt  Hes 
ter.'" 

18 


IN     THE     CLOSED     ROOM 


''  What  does  she  know  about  her 
Aunt  Hester,"  said  Jem.  "Who's 
been  talkin'  to  her?" 

"Not  me,"  Jane  said.  "She 
don't  know  nothing  but  what  she's 
picked  up  by  chance.  I  don't  be 
lieve  in  talkin'  to  young  ones  about 
dead  folks.  'Tain't  healthy." 

"That's  right,"  said  Jem.  "Chil 
dren  that's  got  to  hustle  about 
among  live  folks  for  a  livin'  best 
keep  their  minds  out  of  cemeteries. 
But,  Hully  Gee,  what  a  queer 
thing  for  a  young  one  to  say." 

"And  that  ain't  all,"  Jane  went 
19 


*£-[ 


IN     THE     CLOSED     ROOM 


on,  her  giggle  half  amused,  half 
nervous.  "'But  I  don't  fall  asleep 
when  I  see  Aunt  Hester,'  says  she. 
*I  fall  awake.  It's  more  awake 
there  than  here.' 

'Where?'  says  I,  laughing  a 
bit,  though  it  did  make  me  feel 
queer. 

"'I  don't  know,'  she  says  in  that 
soft  little  quiet  way  of  hers. 
*  There.'  And  not  another  thing 
could  I  get  out  of  her." 

On  the  hot  night  through  whose 
first  hours  Judith  lay  panting  in  her 
corner  of  the  room,  tormented  and 
20 


IN     THE     CLOSED     ROOM 


kept  awake  by  the  constant  roar 
and  rush  and  flash  of  lights,  she  was 
trying  to  go  to  sleep  in  the  hope  of 
leaving  all  the  heat  and  noise  and 
discomfort  behind,  and  reaching 
Aunt  Hester.  If  she  could  fall 
awake  she  would  feel  and  hear 
none  of  it.  It  would  all  be  unreal 
and  she  would  know  that  only  the 
lightness  and  the  air  like  flowers 
and  the  lovely  brightness  were  true. 
Once,  as  she  tossed  on  her  cot-bed, 
she  broke  into  a  low  little  laugh 
to  think  how  untrue  things  really 
were  and  how  strange  it  was  that 


IN     THE     CLOSED     ROO 


nA 


people  did  not  understand  —  that 
even  she  felt  as  she  lay  in  the  dark 
ness  that  she  could  not  get  away. 
And  she  could  not  get  away  unless 
the  train  would  stop  just  long 
enough  to  let  her  fall  asleep.  If 
she  could  fall  asleep  between  the 
trains,  she  would  not  awaken.  But 
they  came  so  quickly  one  after  the 
other.  Her  hair  was  damp  as  she 
pushed  it  from  her  forehead,  the 
bed  felt  hot  against  her  skin,  the 
people  in  the  next  flat  quarrelled 
more  angrily,  Judith  heard  a  loud 
slap,  and  then  the  woman  began 
22 


IN     THE     CLOSED     ROOM 


to  cry.  She  was  a  young  married 
woman,  scarcely  more  than  a  girl. 
Her  marriage  had  not  been  as  suc 
cessful  as  that  of  Judith's  parents. 
Both  husband  and  wife  had  irri 
table  tempers.  Through  the  thin 
wall  Judith  could  hear  the  girl  sob 
bing  angrily  as  the  man  flung  him 
self  out  of  bed,  put  on  his  clothes 
and  went  out,  banging  the  door 
after  him. 

"She  doesn't  know,"  the  child 
whispered  eerily,  "that  it  isn't  real 
at  all." 

There  was  in  her  strange  little 
23 


IN     THE     CLOSED     ROOM 


soul  a  secret  no  one  knew  the  ex 
istence  of.  It  was  a  vague  belief 
that  she  herself  was  not  quite  real 
—  or  that  she  did  not  belong  to  the 
life  she  had  been  born  into.  Her 
mother  and  father  loved  her  and 
she  loved  them,  but  sometimes  she 
was  on  the  brink  of  telling  them 
that  she  could  not  stay  long  —  that 
some  mistake  had  been  made. 
What  mistake  —  or  where  was  she 
to  go  to  if  she  went,  she  did  not 
know.  She  used  to  catch  her 
breath  and  stop  herself  and  feel 

frightened  when  she  had  been  near 
04 


IN     THE     CLOSED     ROOM 


speaking  of  this  fantastic  thing. 
But  the  building  full  of  workmen's 
flats,  the  hot  room,  the  Elevated 
Railroad,  the  quarrelling  people, 
were  all  a  mistake.  Just  once  or 
twice  in  her  life  she  had  seen  places 
and  things  which  did  not  seem  so 
foreign.  Once,  when  she  had  been 
taken  to  the  Park  in  the  Spring, 
she  had  wandered  away  from 
her  mother  to  a  sequestered  place 
among  shrubs  and  trees,  all  wav 
ing  tender,  new  pale  green,  with 
the  leaves  a  few  early  hot  days  had 
caused  to  rush  out  and  tremble  un- 
25 


Ml?       J 

^ 


lN     THE     CLOSED     ROOM 


furled.  There  had  been  a  still 
ness  there  and  scents  and  colours 
she  knew.  A  bird  had  come  and 
swung  upon  a  twig  quite  near  her 
and,  looking  at  her  with  bright  soft 
full  eyes,  had  sung  gently  to  her, 
as  if  he  were  speaking.  A  squirrel 
had  crept  up  onto  her  lap  and  had 
not  moved  when  she  stroked  it.  Its 
eyes  had  been  full  and  soft  also, 
and  she  knew  it  understood  that 
she  could  not  hurt  it.  There  was 
no  mistake  in  her  being  among  the 
new  fair  greenness,  and  the  wood 
land  things  who  spoke  to  her.  They 
26 


IN     THE     CLOSED     ROOM 


did  not  use  words,  but  no  words 
were  needed.  She  knew  what  they 
were  saying.  When  she  had  push 
ed  her  way  through  the  greenness 
of  the  shrubbery  to  the  driveway 
she  had  found  herself  quite  near  to 
an  open  carriage,  which  had  stop 
ped  because  the  lady  who  sat  in  it 
was  speaking  to  a  friend  on  the 
path.  She  was  a  young  woman, 
dressed  in  delicate  spring  colours, 
and  the  little  girl  at  her  side  was 
dressed  in  white  cloth,  and  it  was  at 
the  little  girl  Judith  found  herself 
gazing.  Under  her  large  white  hat 
27 


<£-[ 


iN     THE     CLOSED     ROOM 


and  feathers  her  little  face  seem 
ed  like  a  white  flower.  She  had 
a  deep  dimple  near  her  mouth. 
Her  hair  was  a  rich  coppery  red 
and  hung  heavy  and  long  about  her 
cheeks  and  shoulders.  She  lifted 
her  head  a  little  when  the  child  in 
the  common  hat  and  frock  pressed 
through  the  greenness  of  the  bushes 
and  she  looked  at  Judith  just  as  the 
bird  and  the  squirrel  had  looked  at 
her.  They  gazed  as  if  they  had 
known  each  other  for  ages  of  years 
and  were  separated  by  nothing. 
Each  of  them  was  quite  happy  at 
28 


I   II  I-  V     (iA/KI)     AS     IK     TIIKV      HAD      KNOWN      l-.ACII      ol'IIMt      KOU      A(.KS 
OK      YKAItS 


^ISL      '    IN     THE     CLOSED     ROOM 

ff   ^ "16 


being  near  the  other,  and  there  was 
not  in  the  mind  of  either  any  ques 
tion  of  their  not  being  near  each 
other  again.  The  question  did  not 
rise  in  Judith's  mind  even  when 
in  a  very  few  minutes  the  carriage 
moved  away  and  was  lost  in  the 
crowd  of  equipages  rolling  by. 

At  the  hottest  hours  of  the  hot 
night  Judith  recalled  to  herself 
the  cool  of  that  day.  She  brought 
back  the  fresh  pale  greenness  of  the 
nook  among  the  bushes  into  which 
she  had  forced  her  way,  the  scent 
of  the  leaves  and  grass  which  she 
29 


IN      THE     CLOSED     ROOM 


had  drawn  in  as  she  breathed,  the 
nearness  in  the  eyes  of  the  bird,  the 
squirrel,  and  the  child.  She  smiled 
as  she  thought  of  these  things, 
and  as  she  continued  to  remember 
yet  other  things,  bit  by  bit,  she  felt 
less  hot  —  she  gradually  forgot  to 
listen  for  the  roar  of  the  train  —  she 
smiled  still  more  —  she  lay  quite 
still  —  she  was  cool  —  a  tiny  fresh 
breeze  fluttered  through  the  win 
dow  and  played  about  her  fore 
head.  She  was  smiling  in  soft  de 
light  as  her  eyelids  drooped  and 
closed. 

30 


^JjT    J   IN     THE     CLOSED     ROOM        J.J 


"I  am  falling  awake,"  she  was 
murmuring  as  her  lashes  touched 
her  cheek. 

Perhaps  when  her  eyes  closed 
the  sultriness  of  the  night  had 
changed  to  the  momentary  fresh 
ness  of  the  turning  dawn,  and  the 
next  hour  or  so  was  really  cooler. 
She  knew  no  more  heat  but  slept 
softly,  deeply,  long  —  or  it  seemed 
to  her  afterwards  that  she  had 
slept  long  —  as  if  she  had  drifted  far 
away  in  dreamless  peace. 

She  remembered  no  dream,  saw 
nothing,  felt  nothing  until,  as  it 
31 


Mr        JIN      THE     CLOSED     ROOM  ^f ^ 

«TH n» 


seemed  to  her,  in  the  early  morn 
ing,  she  opened  her  eyes.  All  was 
quite  still  and  clear  —  the  air  of  the 
room  was  pure  and  sweet.  There 
was  no  sound  anywhere  and,  curi 
ously  enough,  she  was  not  sur 
prised  by  this,  nor  did  she  expect 
to  hear  anything  disturbing. 

She  did  not  look  round  the  room. 
Her  eyes  remained  resting  upon 
what  she  first  saw  —  and  she  was 
not  surprised  by  this  either.  A 
little  girl  about  her  own  age  was 
standing  smiling  at  her.  She  had 
large  eyes,  a  deep  dimple  near  her 
32 


^5       J   I  N     THE     CLOSED     ROOM     12 

mouth,  and  coppery  red  hair  which 
fell  about  her  cheeks  and  shoulders. 
Judith  knew  her  and  smiled  back 
at  her. 

She  lifted  her  hand  —  and  it  was 
a  pure  white  little  hand  with  long 
tapering  fingers. 

"Come  and  play  with  me,"  she 
said — though  Judith  heard  no  voice 
while  she  knew  what  she  was  say 
ing.  "Come  and  play  with  me." 

Then  she  was  gone,  and  in  a  few 

seconds  Judith  was  awake,  the  air 

of  the  room  had  changed,  the  noise 

and  clatter  of  the  streets  came  in 

33 


IN     THE     CLOSED     ROOM 


at  the  window,  and  the  Elevated 
train  went  thundering  by.  Judith 
did  not  ask  herself  how  the  child 
had  gone  or  how  she  had  come. 
She  lay  still,  feeling  undisturbed  by 
everything  and  smiling  as  she  had 
smiled  in  her  sleep. 

While  she  sat  at  the  breakfast 
table  she  saw  her  mother  looking 
at  her  curiously. 

'  You  look  as  if  you'd  slept  cool 
instead  of  hot  last  night,"  she  said. 
'  You  look  better  than  you  did  yes 
terday.    You're  pretty  well,    ain't 
you,  Judy?" 

34 


SMITH. 


t'OMK      AND      1M.AY      WITH      M  K 


& 


&-L 

9 


IN     THE     CLOSED     ROOM 


Judith's  smile  meant  that  she 
was  quite  well,  but  she  said  noth 
ing  about  her  sleeping. 

The  heat  did  not  disturb  her 
through  the  day,  though  the  hours 
grew  hotter  and  hotter  as  they 
passed.  Jane  Foster,  sweltering 
at  her  machine,  was  obliged  to 
stop  every  few  minutes  to  wipe  the 
beads  from  her  face  and  neck. 
Sometimes  she  could  not  remain 
seated,  but  got  up  panting  to  drink 
water  and  fan  herself  with  a  news 
paper. 

"I  can't  stand  much  more  of 
35 


IN     THE     CLOSED     ROOM 


this,"  she  kept  saying.  "If  there 
don't  come  a  thunderstorm  to  cool 
things  off  I  don't  know  what  I'll 
do.  This  room's  about  five  hun 
dred." 

But  the  heat  grew  greater  and 
the  Elevated  trains  went  thunder 
ing  by. 

When  Jem  came  home  from  his 
work  his  supper  was  not  ready. 
Jane  was  sitting  helplessly  by  the 
window,  almost  livid  in  her  pallor. 
The  table  was  but  half  spread. 

"Hullo,"  said  Jem;  "it's  done 
you  up,  ain't  it?" 
36 


jl      J     IN     THE     CLOSED     ROOM      J^ 


"Well,  I  guess  it  has,"  good- 
naturedly,  certain  of  his  sympathy. 
"But  I'll  get  over  it  presently,  and 
then  I  can  get  you  a  cold  bite.  I 
can't  stand  over  the  stove  and 
cook." 

"Hully  Gee,  a  cold  bite's  all  a 
man  wants  on  a  night  like  this. 
Hot  chops'd  give  him  the  jim- 
jams.  But  I've  got  good  news  for 
you  —  it's  cheered  me  up  myself." 

Jane  lifted  her  head  from  the 
chair  back. 

"What  is  it?" 

"  Well,  it  came  through  my  boss. 
37 


'€> 


^>      ^IN     THE     CLOSED     ROOM        —<J? 


He's  always  been  friendly  to  me. 
He  asks  a  question  or  so  every  now 
and  then  and  seems  to  take  an  in 
terest.  To-day  he  was  asking  me 
if  it  wasn't  pretty  hot  and  noisy 
down  here,  and  after  I  told  him 
how  we  stood  it,  he  said  he  believed 
he  could  get  us  a  better  place  to 
stay  in  through  the  summer.  Some 
one  he  knows  has  had  illness  and 
trouble  in  his  family  and  he's 
obliged  to  close  his  house  and  take 
his  wife  away  into  the  mountains. 
They've  got  a  beautiful  big  house 
in  one  of  them  far  up  streets  by  the 


j:       J       IN     THE     CLOSED     ROOM    ,— 5£ 


Park  and  he  wants  to  get  care 
takers  in  that  can  come  well  recom 
mended.  The  boss  said  he  could 
recommend  us  fast  enough.  And 
there's  a  big  light  basement  that'll 
be  as  cool  as  the  woods.  And  we 
can  move  in  to-morrow.  And  all 
we've  got  to  do  is  to  see  that  things 
are  safe  and  live  happy." 

"Oh,  Jem!"  Jane  ejaculated. 
"It  sounds  too  good  to  be  true! 
Up  by  the  Park!  A  big  cool  place 
to  live!" 

"  We've  none  of  us  ever  been  in 
a  house  the  size  of  it.  You  know 
39 


>L_J 


l  N     THE     CLOSED     ROOM 
tl  <! 

what  they  look  like  outside,  and 
they  say  they're  bigger  than  they 
look.  It's  your  business  to  go 
over  the  rooms  every  day  or  so  to 
see  nothing's  going  wrong  in  them 
—  moths  or  dirt,  I  suppose.  It's 
all  left  open  but  just  one  room 
they've  left  locked  and  don't  want 
interfered  with.  I  told  the  boss 
I  thought  the  basement  would 
seem  like  the  Waldorf-Astoria  to 
us.  I  tell  you  I  was  so  glad  I 
scarcely  knew  what  to  say." 

Jane  drew  a  long  breath. 

"  A  big  house  up  there,"  she  said. 
40 


s 
4* 


: 


(5: 


IN     THE     CLOSED     R  O  O  M 


"And  only  one  closed  room  in  it. 
It's  too  good  to  be  true!" 

"Well,  whether  it's  true  or  not 
we'll  move  out  there  to-morrow," 
Jem  answered  cheerfully.  ''To 
morrow  morning  bright  and  early. 
The  boss  said  the  sooner  the  bet 
ter." 

A  large  house  left  deserted  by 
those  who  have  filled  its  rooms 
with  emotions  and  life,  express 
es  a  silence,  a  quality  all  its  own. 
A  house  unfurnished  and  empty 
seems  less  impressively  silent.  The 
41 


qp 


Ml        f 


lN     THE     CLOSED     ROOM 


fact  of  its  devoidness  of  sound  is 
upon  the  whole  more  natural.  But 
carpets  accustomed  to  the  pressure 
of  constantly  passing  feet,  chairs 
and  sofas  which  have  held  human 
warmth,  draperies  used  to  the 
touch  of  hands  drawing  them  aside 
to  let  in  daylight,  pictures  which 
have  smiled  back  at  thinking  eyes, 
mirrors  which  have  reflected  faces 
passing  hourly  in  changing  moods, 
elate  or  dark  or  longing,  walls 
which  have  echoed  back  voices  - 
all  these  things  when  left  alone 
seem  to  be  held  in  strange  arrest, 
42 


-V* 


iN     THE     CLOSED     ROOM 


as  if  by  some  spell  intensifying  the 
effect  of  the  pause  in  their  exist 
ence. 

The  child  Judith  felt  this  deep 
ly  throughout  the  entirety  of  her 
young  being. 

"How  still  it  is,"  she  said  to  her 
mother  the  first  time  they  went 
over  the  place  together. 

"Well,  it  seems  still  up  here- 
and  kind  of  dead,"  Jane  Foster  re 
plied  with  her  habitual  sociable 
half -laugh.  "But  seems  to  me  it 
always  feels  that  way  in  a  house 
people's  left.  It's  cheerful  enough 
43 


C5; 


IN     THE     CLOSED     ROOM 


down  in  that  big  basement  with  all 
the  windows  open.  We  can  sit  in 
that  room  they've  had  fixed  to  play 
billiards  in.  We  shan't  hurt  noth 
ing.  We  can  keep  the  table  and 
things  covered  up.  Tell  you,  Judy, 
this'll  be  different  from  last  sum 
mer.  The  Park  ain't  but  a  few  steps 
away  an'  we  can  go  and  sit  there 
too  when  we  feel  like  it.  Talk  about 
the  country  —  I  don't  want  no  more 
country  than  this  is.  You'll  be  made 
over  the  months  we  stay  here." 

Judith  felt  as  if  this  must  veri 
tably  be  a  truth.   The  houses  on 
44 


<£r~~ 

*              £*N 

win 

\ 

J 

^fl^ 

jfv*  C                                       \  <*£$* 

^J^    J    IN     THE     CLOSED     ROOM     LJJ*1 

•                                                                                                       « 

either  side  of  the  street  were  closed 
for  the  summer.  Their  occupants 
had   gone   to   the   seaside   or   the 
mountains  and  the  windows  and 
doors  were  boarded  up.  The  street 
was  a  quiet  one  at  any  time,  and 
wore  now  the  aspect  of  a  street  in 
a  city  of  the  dead.  The  green  trees 
of  the  Park  were  to  be  seen  either 
gently  stirring  or  motionless  in  the 
sun  at  the  side  of  the  avenue  cross 
ing  the  end  of  it.  The  only  token  of 
the  existence  of  the  Elevated  Rail 
road  was  a  remote  occasional  hum 
suggestive  of  the  flying  past  of  a 
45 

**^vp^ 

1. 

V_y                 ^                                                                        4 

f~~~       ""'vL/ 

*-[ 


I  N      THE      CLOSED     io  O  M 


giant  bee.  The  thing  seemed  no 
longer  a  roaring  demon,  and  Jud 
ith  scarcely  recognized  that  it  was 
still  the  centre  of  the  city's  rush 
ing,  heated  life. 

The  owners  of  the  house  had 
evidently  deserted  it  suddenly.  The 
windows  had  not  been  boarded  up 
and  the  rooms  had  been  left  in 
their  ordinary  condition.  The  fur 
niture  was  not  covered  or  the 
hangings  swathed.  Jem  Foster  had 
been  told  that  his  wife  must  put 
things  in  order. 

The  house  was  beautiful  and 
46 


N     THE     CLOSED     ROOM 


—  ^^ 


spacious,  its  decorations  and  ap 
pointments  were  not  mere  testi 
monies  to  freedom  of  expenditure, 
but  expressions  of  a  dignified  and 
cultivated  thought.  Judith  follow 
ed  her  mother  from  room  to  room 
in  one  of  her  singular  moods.  The 
loftiness  of  the  walls,  the  breadth 
and  space  about  her  made  her,  at 
intervals,  draw  in  her  breath  with 
pleasure.  The  pictures,  the  colours, 
the  rich  and  beautiful  textures  she 
saw  brought  to  her  the  free—  and  at 
the  same  time  soothed  —  feeling  she 
remembered  as  the  chief  feature 
47 


qp 


THE     CLOSED     ROOM 


of  the  dreams  in  which  she  "fell 
awake."  But  beyond  all  other 
things  she  rejoiced  in  the  height 
and  space,  the  sweep  of  view 
through  one  large  room  into  an 
other.  She  continually  paused  and 
stood  with  her  face  lifted  looking 
up  at  the  pictured  things  floating 
on  a  ceiling  above  her.  Once, 
when  she  had  stood  doing  this  long 
enough  to  forget  herself,  she  was 
startled  by  her  mother's  laugh, 
which  broke  in  upon  the  silence 
about  them  with  a  curiously  earth 
ly  sound  which  was  almost  a  shock. 
48 


N     THE     CLOSED     ROOM 


H^ 


:'  Wake  up,  Judy;  have  you  gone 
off  in  a  dream?  You  look  all  the 
time  as  if  you  was  walking  in  your 
sleep." 

"It's  so  high,"  said  Judy. 
"Those  clouds  make  it  look  like 
the  sky." 

"I've  got  to  set  these  chairs 
straight,"  said  Jane.  "Looks  like 
they'd  been  havin'  a  concert  here. 
All  these  chairs  together  an'  that 
part  of  the  room  clear." 

She  began  to  move  the  chairs 
and  rearrange  them,  bustling  about 
cheerfully  and  talking  the  while. 
49 


* 


I 

^ 


IN     THE     CLOSED     ROOM 


Presently  she  stooped  to  pick  some 
thing  up. 

"What's  this,"  she  said,  and 
then  uttered  a  startled  exclamation. 
" Mercy!  they  felt  so  kind  of  clam 
my  they  made  me  jump.  They  have 
had  a  party.  Here's  some  of  the 
flowers  left  fallen  on  the  carpet." 

She  held  up  a  cluster  of  wax- 
white  hyacinths  and  large  heavy 
rosebuds,  faded  to  discoloration. 

"This  has  dropped  out  of  some 

set  piece.  It  felt  like  cold  flesh  when 

I  first  touched  it.  I  don't  like  a  lot 

of  white  things  together.  They  look 

50 


? 


N     THE     CLOSED     ROOM 


L3*^ 


too  kind  of  mournful.  Just  go  and 
get  the  wastepaper  basket  in  the 
library,  Judy.  We'll  carry  it  around 
to  drop  things  into.  Take  that  with 

you." 

Judith  carried  the  flowers  into 
the  library  and  bent  to  pick  up  the 
basket  as  she  dropped  them  into  it. 

As  she  raised  her  head  she  found 
her  eyes  looking  directly  into  other 
eyes  which  gazed  at  her  from  the 
wall.  They  were  smiling  from  the 
face  of  a  child  in  a  picture.  As  soon 
as  she  saw  them  Judith  drew  in  her 
breath  and  stood  still,  smiling,  too, 
51 


C5 


IN     THE     CLOSED     ROOM 


in  response.  The  picture  was  that 
of  a  little  girl  in  a  floating  white 
frock.  She  had  a  deep  dimple  at  one 
corner  of  her  mouth,  her  hanging 
hair  was  like  burnished  copper,  she 
held  up  a  slender  hand  with  point 
ed  fingers  and  Judith  knew  her. 
Oh!  she  knew  her  quite  well.  She 
had  never  felt  so  near  any  one  else 
throughout  her  life. 

"Judy,  Judy!"  Jane  Foster  call 
ed  out.  "Come  here  with  your 
basket;  what  you  staying  for?" 

Judith  returned  to  her. 

"We've  got  to  get  a  move  on," 
52 


-V* 


IN     THE     CLOSED     ROOM 


said  Jane,  "or  we  sha'n't  get  noth- 
in'  done  before  supper  time.  What 
was  you  lookin'  at  ?" 

"There's  a  picture  in  there  of  a 
little  girl  I  know,"  Judith  said.  "I 
don't  know  her  name,  but  I  saw 
her  in  the  Park  once  and  —  and  I 
dreamed  about  her." 

"Dreamed  about  her?  If  that 
ain't  queer.  Well,  we've  got  to  hur 
ry  up.  Here's  some  more  of  them 
dropped  flowers.  Give  me  the  bas 
ket." 

They  went  through  the  whole 
house  together,  from  room  to  room, 
53 


* 


<£-[ 


IN      THE     CLOSED     ROOM 


up  the  many  stairs,  from  floor  to 
floor,  and  everywhere  Judith  felt 
the  curious  stillness  and  silence. 
It  can  not  be  doubted  that  Jane 
Foster  felt  it  also. 

"It  is  the  stillest  house  I  was 
ever  in,"  she  said.  "I'm  glad  I've 
got  you  with  me,  Judy.  If  I  was  sole 
alone  I  believe  it  'ud  give  me  the 
creeps.  These  big  places  ought  to 
have  big  families  in  them." 

It  was  on  the  fourth  floor  that 
they  came  upon  the  Closed  Room. 
Jane  had  found  some  of  the  doors 
shut  and  some  open,  but  a  turn  of 


IN     THE     CLOSED     ROOM 


the  handle  gave  entrance  through 
all  the  unopened  ones  until  they 
reached  this  one  at  the  back  on  the 
fourth  floor. 

"This  one  won't  open,"  Jane 
said,  when  she  tried  the  handle. 
Then  she  shook  it  once  or  twice. 
"No,  it's  locked,"  she  decided 
after  an  effort  or  two.  "There,  I've 
just  remembered.  There's  one  kept 
locked.  Folks  always  has  things 
they  want  locked  up.  I'll  make 
sure,  though." 

She  shook  it,  turned  the  handle, 
shook  again,  pressed  her  knee 
55 


^*y    j    IN     THE     CLOSED     ROOM       J?<^ 


against  the  panel.  The  lock  resist 
ed  all  effort. 

'Yes,  this  is  the  closed  one,"  she 
made  up  her  mind.  "It's  locked 
hard  and  fast.  It's  the  closed  one." 

It  was  logically  proved  to  be  the 
closed  one  by  the  fact  that  she 
found  no  other  one  locked  as  she 
finished  her  round  of  the  chambers. 

Judith  was  a  little  tired  before 
they  had  done  their  work.  But  her 
wandering  pilgrimage  through  the 
large,  silent,  deserted  house  had 
been  a  revelation  of  new  emotions  to 
her.  She  was  always  a  silent  child. 
56 


tyP    r    IN     THE     CLOSED     ROOM      J-3^ 


Her  mind  was  so  full  of  strange 
thoughts  that  it  seemed  unneces 
sary  to  say  many  words.  The  things 
she  thought  as  she  followed  her 
from  room  to  room,  from  floor  to 
floor,  until  they  reached  the  locked 
door,  would  have  amazed  and  puz 
zled  Jane  Foster  if  she  had  known 
of  their  existence.  Most  of  all,  per 
haps,  she  would  have  been  puzzled 
by  the  effect  the  closed  door  had 
upon  the  child.  It  puzzled  and  be 
wildered  Judith  herself  and  made 
her  feel  a  little  weary. 

She  wanted  so  much  to  go  into 
57 


f&   \_\ 

~* 


IN     THE     CLOSED     ROOM 


the  room.  Without  in  the  least  un 
derstanding  the  feeling,  she  was 
quite  shaken  by  it.  It  seemed  as  if 
the  closing  of  all  the  other  rooms 
would  have  been  a  small  matter  in 
comparison  with  the  closing  of  this 
one.  There  was  something  inside 
which  she  wanted  to  see—  there  was 
something  —  somehow  there  was 
something  which  wanted  to  see 
her.  What  a  pity  that  the  door  was 
locked!  Why  had  it  been  done? 
She  sighed  unconsciously  several 
times  during  the  evening,  and  Jane 
Foster  thought  she  was  tired. 
58 


C35 ^  * — 2© 


IN     THE     CLOSED     ROOM 

"But  you'll  sleep  cool  enough 
to-night,  Judy,"  she  said.  "And 
get  a  good  rest.  Them  little  breezes 
that  comes  rustling  through  the 
trees  in  the  Park  comes  right  along 
the  street  to  us." 

She  and  Jem  Foster  slept  well. 
They  spent  the  evening  in  the 
highest  spirits  and  —  as  it  seemed 
to  them  —  the  most  luxurious  com 
fort.  The  space  afforded  them  by 
the  big  basement,  with  its  kitch 
en  and  laundry  and  pantry,  and, 
above  all,  the  specially  large  room 
which  had  been  used  for  billiard 
59 


*^ 


IN     THE     CLOSED     ROOM 


playing,  supplied  actual  vistas.  For 
the  sake  of  convenience  and  cool 
ness  they  used  the  billiard  room  as 
a  dormitory,  sleeping  on  light  cots, 
and  they  slept  with  all  their  win 
dows  open,  the  little  breezes  wan 
dering  from  among  the  trees  of  the 
Park  to  fan  them.  How  they  laugh 
ed  and  enjoyed  themselves  over 
their  supper,  and  how  they  stretch 
ed  themselves  out  with  sighs  of  joy 
in  the  darkness  as  they  sank  into 
the  cool,  untroubled  waters  of  deep 
sleep. 

"This  is  about  the  top  notch," 
60 


I 


lN     THE     CLOSED     ROOM 


Jem  murmured  as  he  lost  his  hold 
on  the  world  of  waking  life  and 
work. 

But  though  she  was  cool,  though 
she  was  undisturbed,  though  her 
body  rested  in  absolute  repose, 
Judith  did  not  sleep  for  a  long  time. 
She  lay  and  listened  to  the  quiet 
ness.  There  was  mystery  in  it.  The 
footstep  of  a  belated  passer-by  in 
the  street  woke  strange  echoes,  a 
voice  heard  in  the  distance  in 
a  riotous  shout  suggested  weird 
things.  And  as  she  lay  and  listen 
ed,  it  was  as  if  she  were  not  only 
61 


THE     CLOSED      ROOM 


listening  but  waiting  for  some 
thing.  She  did  not  know  at  all  what 
she  was  waiting  for,  but  waiting 
she  was. 

She  lay  upon  her  cot  with  her 
arms  flung  out  and  her  eyes  wide 
open.  What  was  it  that  she  wanted 
—  that  which  was  in  the  closed 
room?  Why  had  they  locked  the 
door  ?  If  they  had  locked  the  doors 
of  the  big  parlours  it  would  not  have 
mattered.  If  they  had  locked  the 
door  of  the  library  —  Her  mind 
paused  —  as  if  for  a  moment,  some 
thing  held  it  still.  Then  she  remem- 
62 


I 


IN     THE     CLOSED     ROOM 


bered  that  to  have  locked  the  doors 
of  the  library  would  have  been  to 
lock  in  the  picture  of  the  child  with 
the  greeting  look  in  her  eyes  and 
the  fine  little  uplifted  hand.  She 
was  glad  the  room  had  been  left 
open.  But  the  room  up-stairs  —  the 
one  on  the  fourth  floor  —  that  was 
the  one  that  mattered  most  of  all. 
She  knew  that  to-morrow  she  must 
go  and  stand  at  the  door  and  press 
her  cheek  against  the  wood  and 
wait  —  and  listen.  Thinking  this 
and  knowing  that  it  must  be  so, 
she  fell  —  at  last  —  asleep. 
63 


IIIK      MI'ST      <;o      AVI)      STAND      AT      'I'lli:      DO  OK      A  N  l>      I'HKSS      II  KH     CIIKKK 
ACAINST     TIIK     WOOD      AND      WAIT        AND      I.  ISTKX 


PA  RT    TWO 


climbed 

the  basement 
stairs  rather  slow 
ly.  Her  mother  was 
busy  rearranging  the  disorder  the 
hastily  departing  servants  had  left. 
Their  departure  had  indeed  been 
made  in  sufficient  haste  to  have 
left  behind  the  air  of  its  having 
been  flight.  There  was  a  great  deal 
to  be  done,  and  Jane  Foster,  mov 
ing  about  with  broom  and  pail  and 
scrubbing  brushes,  did  not  dislike 
65 


I  N     THE     CLOSED     ROOM 


the  excitement  of  the  work  before 
her.  Judith's  certainty  that  she 
would  not  be  missed  made  all  clear 
before  her.  If  her  absence  was 
observed  her  mother  would  real 
ize  that  the  whole  house  lay  open 
to  her  and  that  she  was  an  undis- 
turbing  element  wheresoever  she 
was  led  either  by  her  fancy  or 
by  circumstance.  If  she  went  into 
the  parlours  she  would  probably 
sit  and  talk  to  herself  or  play 
quietly  with  her  shabby  doll.  In 
any  case  she  would  be  finding 
pleasure  of  her  own  and  would 
66 


f  ^ 


IN     THE     CLOSED     ROOM 

touch    nothing    which    could    be 
harmed. 

When  the  child  found  herself  in 
the  entrance  hall  she  stopped  a  few 
moments  to  look  about  her.  The 
stillness  seemed  to  hold  her  and  she 
paused  to  hear  and  feel  it.  In  leav 
ing  the  basement  behind,  she  had 
left  the  movement  of  living  behind 
also.  No  one  was  alive  upon  this 
floor  —  nor  upon  the  next—  nor  the 
next.  It  was  as  if  one  had  entered 
a  new  world  —  a  world  in  which 
something  existed  which  did  not 
express  itself  in  sound  or  in  things 
67 


IN      THE      CLOSED      ROOM 

which  one  could  see.  Chairs  held 
out  their  arms  to  emptiness  —  cush 
ions  were  not  pressed  by  living 
things  —  only  the  people  in  the  pic 
tures  were  looking  at  something, 
but  one  could  not  tell  what  they 
were  looking  at. 

But  on  the  fourth  floor  was  the 
Closed  Room,  which  she  must  go 
to  —  because  she  must  go  to  it  — 
that  was  all  she  knew. 

She  began  to  mount  the  stairs 

which  led  to  the  upper  floors.  Her 

shabby  doll  was  held  against  her 

hip  by  one  arm,  her  right  hand 

68 


1IK      IIKCAN      TO      MOI'NT       TIIK        S  T  A  I  K  S       WHICH       1.  K  I)      TO      TIIK 

r  r  r  K  K     K  i.oo  it  s 


Jt*-— 

ft* 


j^SL^   *  N     THE     CLOSED     ROOM     L23^ 

touched  the  wall  as  she  went,  she 
felt  the  height  of  the  wall  as  she 
looked  upward.  It  was  such  a  large 
house  and  so  empty.  Where  had 
the  people  gone  and  why  had  they 
left  it  all  at  once  as  if  they  were 
afraid  ?  Her  father  had  only  heard 
vaguely  that  they  had  gone  because 
they  had  had  trouble. 

She  passed  the  second  floor,  the 
third,  and  climbed  towards  the 
fourth.  She  could  see  the  door  of 
the  Closed  Room  as  she  went  up 
step  by  step,  and  she  found  herself 
moving  more  quickly.  Yes,  she 
69 


/iff  *    jl  N     THE     CLOSED     ROOM    L— <£^ 

••  "^ 

must  get  to  it  —  she  must  put  her 
hand  on  it — her  chest  began  to  rise 
and  fall  with  a  quickening  of  her 
breath,  and  her  breath  quickened 
because  her  heart  fluttered  —  as  if 
with  her  haste.  She  began  to  be  glad, 
and  if  any  one  could  have  seen  her 
they  would  have  been  struck  by  a 
curious  expectant  smile  in  her  eyes. 
She  reached  the  landing  and 
crossed  it,  running  the  last  few  steps 
lightly.  She  did  not  wait  or  stand 
still  a  moment.  With  the  strange 
expectant  smile  on  her  lips  as  well 
as  in  her  eyes,  she  put  her  hand  up- 
70 


^Kr    f    IN     THE     CLOSED     ROOM 


*  ft 

on  the  door  —  not  upon  the  handle, 
but  upon  the  panel.  Without  any 
sound  it  swung  quietly  open.  And 
without  any  sound  she  stepped 
quietly  inside. 

The  room  was  rather  large  and 
the  light  in  it  was  dim.  There  were 
no  shutters,  but  the  blinds  were 
drawn  down.  Judith  went  to  one  of 
the  windows  and  drew  its  blind  up 
so  that  the  look  of  the  place  might 
be  clear  to  her.  There  were  two 
windows  and  they  opened  upon  the 
flat  roof  of  an  extension,  which 
suggested  somehow  that  it  had 
71 


IN      THE     CLOSED     ROOM 


, 

>  JL 

i  ^j 


been  used  as  a  place  to  walk  about 
in.  This,  at  least,  was  what  Judith 
thought  of  at  once  —  that  some  one 
who  had  used  the  room  had  been 
in  the  habit  of  going  out  upon  the 
roof  and  staying  there  as  if  it  had 
been  a  sort  of  garden.  There  were 
rows  of  flower  pots  with  dead  flow 
ers  in  them  —  there  were  green  tubs 
containing  large  shrubs,  which 
were  dead  also  —  against  the  low 
parapet  certain  of  them  held  climb 
ing  plants  which  had  been  trained 
upon  it.  Two  had  been  climbing 
roses,  two  were  clematis,  but  Judith 
72 


1 


JL  i 

WJ,Lj 


IN     THE     CLOSED     ROOM 


did  not  know  them  by  name.  The 
ledge  of  the  window  was  so  low 
that  a  mere  step  took  her  outside. 
So  taking  it,  she  stood  among  the 
dried,  withered  things  and  looked 
in  tender  regret  at  them. 

"I  wish  they  were  not  dead," 
she  said  softly  to  the  silence.  "It 
would  be  like  a  garden  if  they  were 
not  dead." 

The  sun  was  hot,  but  a  cool, 
little  breeze  seemed  straying  up 
from  among  the  trees  of  the  Park. 
It  even  made  the  dried  leaves  of  the 
flowers  tremble  and  rustle  a  little. 
73 


tl 


IN     THE     CLOSED     ROOM 


*» 


Involuntarily  she  lifted  her  face  to 
the  blue  sky  and  floating  white 
clouds.  They  seemed  so  near  that 
she  felt  almost  as  if  she  could  touch 
them  with  her  hand.  The  street 
seemed  so  far  —  so  far  below  —  the 
whole  world  seemed  far  below.  If 
one  stepped  off  the  parapet  it  would 
surely  take  one  a  long  time  to 
reach  the  earth.  She  knew  now  why 
she  had  come  up  here.  It  was  so 
that  she  might  feel  like  this  —  as 
if  she  was  upheld  far  away  from 
things  —  as  if  she  had  left  every 
thing  behind  —  almost  as  if  she  had 
74 


, 
ill1' 


THE      I.EIMiK.      OK      TIIK      WINDOW      WAS      SO      LOW      THAT      A      .M  K  R  E 
STKI1      TOOK      HER      OI'TSIOK. 


Ss^  *— gp 


I  N     THE     CLOSED     ROOM 


* 


fallen  awake  again.  There  was  no 
perfume  in  the  air,  but  all  was 
still  and  sweet  and  clear. 

Suddenly  she  turned  and  went 
into  the  room  again,  realizing  that 
she  had  scarcely  seen  it  at  all  and 
that  she  must  see  and  know  it.  It 
was  not  like  any  other  room  she 
had  seen.  It  looked  more  simple, 
though  it  was  a  pretty  place.  The 
walls  were  covered  with  roses, 
there  were  bright  pictures,  and 
shelves  full  of  books.  There  was 
also  a  little  writing  desk  and  there 
were  two  or  three  low  chairs,  and  a 
75 


^§5       /IN     THE     CLOSED     ROOM  ^Fl 

<j,^-< ^ 


low  table.  A  closet  in  a  corner  had 
its  door  ajar  and  Judith  could  see 
that  inside  toys  were  piled  together. 
In  another  corner  a  large  doll's 
house  stood,  looking  as  if  some  one 
had  just  stopped  playing  with  it. 
Some  toy  furniture  had  been  taken 
out  and  left  near  it  upon  the  car 
pet. 

"It  was  a  little  girl's  room," 
Judith  said.  "Why  did  they  close 
it?" 

Her  eye  was  caught  by  some 
thing  lying  on  a  sofa  —  something 
covered  with  a  cloth.  It  looked  al- 
76 


qp 


IN     THE     CLOSED     ROOM 


most  like  a  child  lying  there  asleep 
—  so  fast  asleep  that  it  did  not  stir 
at  all.  Judith  moved  across  to  the 
sofa  and  drew  the  cloth  aside.  With 
its  head  upon  a  cushion  was  lying 
there  a  very  large  doll,  beautiful 
ly  dressed  in  white  lace,  its  eyes 
closed,  and  a  little  wreath  of  dead 
flowers  in  its  hair. 

"  It  looks  almost  as  if  it  had  died 
too,"  said  Judith. 

She  did  not  ask  herself  why  she 
said  "as  if  it  had  died  too"  —  per 
haps  it  was  because  the  place  was 
so  still  —  and  everything  so  far 
77 


IN     THE     CLOSED     ROOM 


away — that  the  flowers  had  died  in 
the  strange,  little  deserted  garden 
on  the  roof. 

She  did  not  hear  any  footsteps— 
in  fact,  no  ghost  of  a  sound  stirred 
the  silence  as  she  stood  looking  at 
the  doll's  sleep — but  quite  quickly 
she  ceased  to  bend  forward,  and 
turned  round  to  look  at  something 
which  she  knew  was  near  her. 
There  she  was  —  and  it  was  quite 
natural  she  should  be  there  —  the 
little  girl  with  the  face  like  a  white 
flower,  with  the  quantity  of  bur 
nished  coppery  hair  and  the  smile 
78 


IN     THE     CLOSED     ROOM 


which  deepened  the  already  deep 
dimple  near  her  mouth. 

"You  have  come  to  play  with 
me,"  she  said. 

"Yes,"  answered  Judith.  "I 
wanted  to  come  all  night.  I  could 
not  stay  down-stairs." 

"  No,"  said  the  child ;  "  you  can't 
stay  down-stairs.  Lift  up  the  doll." 

They  began  to  play  as  if  they 
had  spent  their  lives  together. 
Neither  asked  the  other  any  ques 
tions.  Judith  had  not  played  with 
other  children,  but  with  this  one 
she  played  in  absolute  and  lovely 
79 


lN     THE     CLOSED     ROO  M 


delight.  The  little  girl  knew  where 
all  the  toys  were,  and  there  were 
a  great  many  beautiful  ones.  She 
told  Judith  where  to  find  them 
and  how  to  arrange  them  for  their 
games.  She  invented  wonderful 
things  to  do  —  things  which  were 
so  unlike  anything  Judith  had  ever 
seen  or  heard  or  thought  of  that  it 
was  not  strange  that  she  realized 
afterwards  that  all  her  past  life  and 
its  belongings  had  been  so  forgot 
ten  as  to  be  wholly  blotted  out  while 
she  was  in  the  Closed  Room.  She 
did  not  know  her  playmate's  name, 
80 


^if         f 

~* 


l  N     THE     CLOSED     ROOM 


she  did  not  remember  that  there 
were  such  things  as  names.  Every 
moment  was  happiness.  Every  mo 
ment  the  little  girl  seemed  to  grow 
more  beautiful  in  the  flower  white 
ness  of  her  face  and  hands  and 
the  strange  lightness  and  freedom 
of  her  movements.  There  was  an 
ecstasy  in  looking  at  her  —  in  feel 
ing  her  near. 

Not  long  before  Judith  went 
down-stairs  she  found  herself 
standing  with  her  outside  the  win 
dow  in  among  the  withered  flow 
ers. 

81 


IN     THE     CLOSED     ROOM 


"It  was  my  garden,"  the  little 
girl  said.  "It  has  been  so  hot  and 
no  one  has  been  near  to  water 
them,  so  they  could  not  live." 

She  went  lightly  to  one  of  the 
brown  rose-bushes  and  put  her 
pointed-fingered  little  hand  quite 
near  it.  She  did  not  touch  it,  but 
held  her  hand  near  —  and  the  leaves 
began  to  stir  and  uncurl  and  be 
come  fresh  and  tender  again,  and 
roses  were  nodding,  blooming  on 
the  stems.  And  she  went  in  the 
same  manner  to  each  flower  and 
plant  in  turn  until  all  the  before 
82 


qp 


C5; 


iN     THE     CLOSED     ROOM 


dreary  little  garden  was  bright  and 
full  of  leaves  and  flowers. 

"It's  Life,"  she  said  to  Judith. 
Judith  nodded  and  smiled  back  at 
her,  understanding  quite  well  just  as 
she  had  understood  the  eyes  of  the 
bird  who  had  swung  on  the  twig  so 
near  her  cheek  the  day  she  had  hid 
den  among  the  bushes  in  the  Park. 

"Now,  you  must  go,"  the  little 
girl  said  at  last.  And  Judith  went 
out  of  the  room  at  once  —  without 
waiting  or  looking  back,  though 
she  knew  the  white  figure  did  not 
stir  till  she  was  out  of  sight. 
83 


*? 


IN     THE     CLOSED     ROOM 


It  was  not  until  she  had  reached 
the  second  floor  that  the  change 
came  upon  her.  It  was  a  great 
change  and  a  curious  one.  The 
Closed  Room  became  as  far  away 
as  all  other  places  and  things  had 
seemed  when  she  had  stood  upon 
the  roof  feeling  the  nearness  of  the 
blueness  and  the  white  clouds — as 
when  she  had  looked  round  and 
found  herself  face  to  face  with  the 
child  in  the  Closed  Room.  She  sud 
denly  realized  things  she  had  not 
known  before.  She  knew  that  she 
had  heard  no  voice  when  the  little 
84 


reft 
(3 


IN     THE     CLOSED     ROOM 


| 


girl  spoke  to  her  —  she  knew  that  it 
had  happened,  that  it  was  she  only 
who  had  lifted  the  doll  —  who  had 
taken  out  the  toys  —  who  had  ar 
ranged  the  low  table  for  |heir 
feast,  putting  all  the  small  service 
upon  it  —  and  though  they  had 
played  with  such  rapturous  enjoy 
ment  and  had  laughed  and  feasted 
—what  had  they  feasted  on  ?  That 
she  could  not  recall  —  and  not  once 
had  she  touched  or  been  touched 
by  the  light  hand  or  white  dress  - 
and  though  they  seemed  to  express 
their  thoughts  and  intentions  free- 
85 


IN      THE     CLOSED     ROOM 


ly  she  had  heard  no  voice  at  all. 
She  was  suddenly  bewildered  and 
stood  rubbing  her  hand  over  her 
forehead  and  her  eyes  —  but  she 
was  happy — as  happy  as  when  she 
had  fallen  awake  in  her  sleep — and 
was  no  more  troubled  or  really 
curious  than  she  would  have  been 
if  she  had  had  the  same  experience 
every  day  of  her  life. 

"  Well,  you  must  have  been  hav 
ing  a  good  time  playing  up-stairs," 
Jane  Foster  said  when  she  entered 
the  big  kitchen.  "This  is  going  to 
do  you  good,  Judy.  Looks  like 
86 


N     THE     CLOSED     ROOM 


she'd  had  a  day  in  the  country, 
don't  she,  Jem?" 

Through  the  weeks  that  followed 
her  habit  of  "playing  up-stairs" 
was  accepted  as  a  perfectly  natural 
thing.  No  questions  were  asked 
and  she  knew  it  was  not  necessary 
to  enter  into  any  explanations. 

Every  day  she  went  to  the  door 
of  the  Closed  Room  and,  finding  it 
closed,  at  a  touch  of  her  hand  upon 
the  panel  it  swung  softly  open. 
There  she  waited  —  sometimes  for 
a  longer  sometimes  for  a  shorter 
time — and  the  child  with  the  cop- 
87 


4ft 

cs~ 


IN      THE     CLOSED     ROOM 


pery  hair  came  to  her.  The  world 
below  was  gone  as  soon  as  she  en 
tered  the  room,  and  through  the 
hours  they  played  together  joy 
ously  as  happy  children  play.  But 
in  their  playing  it  was  always  Ju 
dith  who  touched  the  toys  —  who 
held  the  doll  —  who  set  the  little 
table  for  their  feast.  Once  as  she 
went  down-stairs  she  remembered 
that  when  she  had  that  day  made 
a  wreath  of  roses  from  the  roof  and 
had  gone  to  put  it  on  her  play 
mate's  head,  she  had  drawn  back 
with  deepened  dimple  and,  holding 
88 


iN     THE     CLOSED     ROOM 


up  her  hand,  had  said,  laughing: 
"No.  Do  not  touch  me." 

But  there  was  no  mystery  in  it 
after  all.  Judith  knew  she  should 
presently  understand. 

She  was  so  happy  that  her  hap 
piness  lived  in  her  face  in  a  sort  of 
delicate  brilliance.  Jane  Foster  ob 
served  the  change  in  her  with  ex 
ceeding  comfort,  her  view  being 
that  spacious  quarters,  fresh  air, 
and  sounder  sleep  had  done  great 
things  for  her. 

;'Them  big  eyes  of  hers  ain't 
like  no  other  child's  eyes  I've  ever 
89 


/IN      THE     CLOSED     ROOM 

*    ^ 


seen,"  she  said  to  her  husband  with 
cheerful  self-gratulation.  "An'  her 
skin's  that  fine  an'  thin  an'  fair 
you  can  jest  see  through  it.  She 
always  looks  to  me  as  if  she  was 
made  out  of  different  stuff  from  me 
an'  you,  Jem.  I've  always  said  it." 

"  She's  going  to  make  a  corking 
handsome  girl,"  responded  Jem 
with  a  chuckle. 

They  had  been  in  the  house  two 
months,  when  one  afternoon,  as 
she  was  slicing  potatoes  for  supper, 
Jane  looked  round  to  see  the  child 
standing  at  the  kitchen  doorway, 


^iy    |    I  N     THE     CLOSED     ROOM       ^ 


looking  with  a  puzzled  expression 
at  some  wilted  flowers  she  held  in 
her  hand.  Jane's  impression  was 
that  she  had  been  coming  into  the 
room  and  had  stopped  suddenly  to 
look  at  what  she  held. 

"  What've  you  got  there,  Judy  ?  " 
she  asked. 

"They're  flowers,"  said  Judith, 
her  eyes  still  more  puzzled. 

"Where'd  you  get  'em  from?  I 
didn't  know  you'd  been  out.  I 
thought  you  was  up-stairs." 

"I  was,"  said  Judith  quite  sim 
ply.  "In  the  Closed  Room." 
91 


IN     THE     CLOSED     ROO  M 


Jane  Foster's  knife  dropped  into 
her  pan  with  a  splash. 

"Well,"  she  gasped. 

Judith  looked  at  her  with  quiet 
eyes. 

"The  Closed  Room!"  Jane  cried 
out.  "What  are  you  saying?  You 
couldn't  get  hi?" 

"Yes,  I  can." 

Jane  was  conscious  of  experienc 
ing  a  shock.  She  said  afterwards 
that  suddenly  something  gave  her 
the  creeps. 

'You  couldn't  open  the  door," 
she  persisted.  "  I  tried  it  again  yes- 
92 


'€> 


*-( 


l  N     THE     CLOSED     ROOM 


* 


terday  as  I  passed  by — turned  the 
handle  and  gave  it  a  regular  shove 
and  it  wouldn't  give  an  inch." 

"Yes,"  the  child  answered;  "I 
heard  you.  We  were  inside  then." 

A  few  days  later,  when  Jane 
weepingly  related  the  incident  to 
awe-stricken  and  sympathizing 
friends,  she  described  as  graphi 
cally  as  her  limited  vocabulary 
would  allow  her  to  do  so,  the  look 
in  Judith's  face  as  she  came  nearer 
to  her. 

"Don't  tell  me  there  was  noth 
ing  happening  then,"  she  said. 
93 


^Jl*    J  I  N     THE     CLOSED     ROOM          ^5J 


"  She  just  came  up  to  me  with  them 
dead  flowers  in  her  hand  an'  a  kind 
of  look  in  her  eyes  as  if  she  was 
half  sorry  for  me  an'  didn't  know 
quite  why. 

"'The  door  opens  for  me/  she 
says.  'That's  where  I  play  every 
day.  There's  a  little  girl  comes  and 
plays  with  me.  She  comes  in  at  the 
window,  I  think.  She  is  like  the  pic 
ture  in  the  room  where  the  books 
are.  Her  hair  hangs  down  and  she 
has  a  dimple  near  her  mouth.' 

"I  couldn't  never  tell  any  one 
what  I  felt  like.  It  was  as  if  I'd  got 
94 


t 


\ 


IN     THE     CLOSED     ROOM 


a  queer  fright  that  I  didn't  under 
stand. 

"  '  She  must  have  come  over  the 
roof  from  the  next  house,'  I  says. 
'They've  got  an  extension  too — but 
I  thought  the  people  were  gone 
away.' 

"'  There  are  flowers  on  our 
roof,'  she  said.  *  I  got  these  there.' 
And  that  puzzled  look  came  into  her 
eyes  again.  'They  were  beautiful 
when  I  got  them  —  but  as  I  came 
down-stairs  they  died.' 

"'Well,  of  all  the  queer  things,' 
I  said.  She  put  out  her  hand  and 
95 


& 

(y ^  IP 


c 

t 

&S"~                                                                    ^oJ 

>»                                   tt] 

*  1 

^W              IN     THE     CLOSED     ROOM! 

touched  my  arm  sort  of  lovin'  an' 
timid. 

'"I  wanted  to  tell  you  to-day, 
mother/  she  said.  'I  had  to  tell 
you  to-day.  You  don't  mind  if  I  go 
play  with  her,  do  you  ?  You  don't 
mind  ? ' 

"Perhaps  it  was  because  she 
touched  me  that  queer  little  loving 
way  —  or  was  it  the  way  she  looked 
—  it  seemed  like  something  came 
over  me  an'  I  just  grabbed  her  an' 
hugged  her  up. 

"  *  No,'  I  says.  *  So  as  you  come 
back.  So  as  you  come  back.' 
96 


IN     THE     CLOSED     ROOM 

"And  to  think!"  And  Jane  rock 
ed  herself  sobbing. 

A  point  she  dwelt  on  with  many 
tears  was  that  the  child  seemed  in 
a  wistful  mood  and  remained  near 
her  side  —  bringing  her  little  chair 
and  sitting  by  her  as  she  worked, 
and  rising  to  follow  her  from  place 
to  place  as  she  moved  from  one 
room  to  the  other. 

"  She  wasn't  never  one  as  kissed 
you  much  or  hung  about  like  some 
children  do  —  I  always  used  to  say 
she  was  the  least  bother  of  any 
child  I  ever  knew.  Seemed  as  if  she 
97 


IN     THE     CLOSED     ROOM 


had  company  of  her  own  when 
she  sat  in  her  little  chair  in  the  cor 
ner  whispering  to  herself  or  just 
setting  quiet."  This  was  a  thing 
Jane  always  added  during  all  the 
years  in  which  she  told  the  story. 
"That  was  what  made  me  notice. 
She  kept  by  me  and  she  kept  look 
ing  at  me  different  rom  any  way 
I'd  seen  her  look  before  —  not  pit 
iful  exactly  —  but  something  like 
it.  And  once  she  came  up  and 
kissed  me  and  once  or  twice  she 
just  kind  of  touched  my  dress  or 
my  hand  —  as  I  stood  by  her.  She 
98 


IN     THE     CLOSED     R  O  O  M 


knew.     No  one  need  tell  me  she 
didn't." 

But  this  was  an  error.  The  child 
was  conscious  only  of  a  tender, 
wistful  feeling,  which  caused  her 
to  look  at  the  affectionate  healthy 
young  woman  who  had  always 
been  good  to  her  and  whom  she 
belonged  to,  though  she  remotely 
wondered  why  —  the  same  tender 
ness  impelled  her  to  touch  her  arm, 
hand  and  simple  dress,  and  folding 
her  arms  round  her  neck  to  kiss  her 
softly.  It  was  an  expression  of 
gratitude  for  all  the  rough  casual 
99 


IN     THE     CLOSED     ROO  M 


affection  of  the  past.  All  her  life 
had  been  spent  at  her  side  —  all  her 
life  on  earth  had  sprung  from  her. 

When  she  went  up-stairs  to  the 
Closed  Room  the  next  day  she  told 
her  mother  she  was  going  before 
she  left  the  kitchen. 

"I'm  going  up  to  play  with  the 
little  girl,  mother,"  she  said.  "  You 
don't  mind,  do  you?" 

Jane  had  had  an  evening  of  com 
fortable  domestic  gossip  and  joking 
with  Jem,  had  slept,  slept  soundly 
and  eaten  a  hearty  breakfast.  Life 
had  reassumed  its  wholly  normal 
100 


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v      . 


c£ 


r4l^  IN     THE      CLOSED     ROOM 

tr* 


aspect.  The  sun  was  shining  hot 
and  bright  and  she  was  preparing 
to  scrub  the  kitchen  floor.  She 
believed  that  the  child  was  mis 
taken  as  to  the  room  she  had  been 
in. 

"That's  all  right,"  she  said, 
turning  the  hot  water  spigot  over 
the  sink  so  that  the  boiling  water 
poured  forth  at  full  flow  into  her 
pail,  with  clouds  of  steam.  "But 
when  I've  done  my  scrubbing  I'm 
comin'  up  to  see  if  it  is  the  Closed 
Room  you  play  in.  If  it  is,  I  guess 
you'd  better  play  somewhere  else  — 
101 


lN     THE     CLOSED     ROOM 


and  I  want  to  find  out  how  you  get 
that  door  open.  Run  along  if  you 
like." 

Judith  came  back  to  her  from 
the  door.  "Yes,"  she  said,  "come 
and  see.  But  if  she  is  there,"  put 
ting  her  hand  on  Jane's  hip  gently, 
"you  mustn't  touch  her." 

Jane  turned  off  the  hot  water 
and  stared. 

"Her!" 

"  The  little  girl  who  plays.  7  never 
touch  her.  She  says  I  must  not." 

Jane  lifted  her  pail  from  the  sink, 
laughing  outright. 
102 


^*>       i     IN     THE     CLOSED     ROOM     lj£ 

"  Well,  that  sounds  as  if  she  was 
a  pretty  airy  young  one,"  she  said. 
"  I  guess  you're  a  queer  little  pair. 
Run  on.  I  must  get  at  this  floor." 

Judith  ran  up  the  three  flights  of 
stairs  lightly.  She  was  glad  she  had 
told  her  mother,  though  she  won 
dered  vaguely  why  it  had  never 
seemed  right  to  tell  her  until  last 
night,  and  last  night  it  had  seemed 
not  so  much  necessary  as  impera 
tive.  Something  had  obliged  her  to 
tell  her.  The  time  had  come  when 
she  must  know.  The  Closed  Room 
door  had  always  shut  itself  gently 
103 


I  N     THE     CLOSED     R  O  O  M        L2 


after  Judith  had  passed  through  it, 
and  yesterday,  when  her  mother 
passing  by  chance,  had  tried  the 
handle  so  vigorously,  the  two  chil 
dren  inside  the  room  had  stood  still 
gazing  at  each  other,  but  neither 
had  spoken  and  Judith  had  not 
thought  of  speaking.  She  was  out 
of  the  realm  of  speech,  and  without 
any  sense  of  amazement  was  aware 
that  she  was  out  of  it.  People  with 
voices  and  words  were  in  that  far 
away  world  below. 

The  playing  to-day  was  even  a 
lovelier,  happier  thing  than  it  had 
104 


tC£      JIN     THE     CLOSED     ROOM 

«T~< 


ever  been  before.  It  seemed  to  be 
come  each  minute  a  thing  farther 
and  farther  away  from  the  world 
in  the  streets  where  the  Elevated 
Railroad  went  humming  past  like 
a  monster  bee.  And  with  the  sense 
of  greater  distance  came  a  sense 
of  greater  lightness  and  freedom. 
Judith  found  that  she  was  moving 
about  the  room  and  the  little  roof 
garden  almost  exactly  as  she  had 
moved  in  the  waking  dreams  where 
she  saw  Aunt  Hester  —  almost  as  if 
she  was  floating  and  every  move 
ment  was  ecstasy.  Once  as  she 
105 


IN      THE     CLOSED     ROOM 


thought  this  she  looked  at  her  play 
mate,  and  the  child  smiled  and 
answered  her  as  she  always  did  be 
fore  she  spoke. 

'Yes,"  she  said;  "I  know  her. 
She  will  come.  She  sent  me." 

She  had  this  day  a  special  plan 
with  regard  to  the  arranging  of  the 
Closed  Room.  She  wanted  all  the 
things  in  it — the  doll — the  chairs— 
the  toys — the  little  table  and  its  ser 
vice  to  be  placed  in  certain  posi 
tions.  She  told  Judith  what  to  do. 
Various  toys  were  put  here  or 
there — the  little  table  was  set  with 
106 


& 


C$2 ^  * — 2® 


IN     THE     CLOSED     ROOM 


* 


certain  dishes  in  a  particular  part 
of  the  room.  A  book  was  left  lying 
upon  the  sofa  cushion,  the  large 
doll  was  put  into  a  chair  near  the 
sofa,  with  a  smaller  doll  in  its  arms, 
on  the  small  writing  desk  a  letter, 
which  Judith  found  in  a  drawer  — 
a  half-  written  letter  —  was  laid,  the 
pen  was  left  in  the  ink.  It  was  a 
strange  game  to  play,  but  some 
how  Judith  felt  it  was  very  pretty. 
When  it  was  all  done  —  and  there 
were  many  curious  things  to  do  - 
the  Closed  Room  looked  quite  dif 
ferent  from  the  cold,  dim,  orderly 
107 


qp 


^ 


^E>      J 


IN     THE     CLOSED     ROOM 


*" 


place  the  door  had  first  opened 
upon.  Then  it  had  looked  as  if 
everything  had  been  swept  up  and 
set  away  and  covered  and  done 
writh  forever — as  if  the  life  in  it  had 
ended  and  would  never  begin  again. 
Now  it  looked  as  if  some  child  who 
had  lived  in  it  and  loved  and  played 
with  each  of  its  belongings,  had  just 
stepped  out  from  her  play — to  some 
other  room  quite  near — quite  near. 
The  big  doll  in  its  chair  seemed 
waiting — even  listening  to  her  voice 
as  it  came  from  the  room  she  had 
run  into. 

108 


tff£  IN     THE     CLOSED     ROOM 

iT* 


The  child  with  the  burnished 
hair  stood  and  looked  at  it  with 
her  delicious  smile. 

"That  is  how  it  looked,"  she 
said.  "They  came  and  hid  and 
covered  everything  —  as  if  I  had 
gone—  as  if  I  was  Nowhere.  I  want 
her  to  know  I  come  here.  I  couldn't 
do  it  myself.  You  could  do  it  for 
me.  Go  and  bring  some  roses." 

The  little  garden  was  a  wonder 
of  strange  beauty  with  its  masses  of 
flowers.  Judith  brought  some  roses 
from  the  bush  her  playmate  pointed 
out.  She  put  them  into  a  light 
109 


qp 


IN     THE      CLOSED     ROOM 


bowl  which  was  like  a  bubble  of 
thin,  clear  glass  and  stood  on  the 
desk  near  the  letter. 

"If  they  would  look  like  that," 
the  little  girl  said,  "she  would  see. 
But  no  one  sees  them  like  that  — 
when  the  Life  goes  away  writh  me." 

After  that  the  game  was  finished 
and  they  went  out  on  the  roof  gar 
den  and  stood  and  looked  up  into 
the  blue  above  their  heads.  How 
blue— how  blue— how  clear  —  how 
near  and  real !  And  how  far  and  un 
real  the  streets  and  sounds  below. 
The  two  children  stood  and  looked 
110 


/IW        r  I  N     THE     CLOSED     ROOM  T§^ 


9  « 

up  and  laughed  at  the  sweetness 

of  it. 

Then  Judith  felt  a  little  tired. 

"I  will  go  and  lie  down  on  the 
sofa,"  she  said. 

'Yes,"  the  little  girl  answered. 
"It's  time  for  you  to  go  to  sleep." 

They  went  into  the  Closed  Room 
and  Judith  lay  down.  As  she  did 
so,  she  saw  that  the  door  was  stand 
ing  open  and  remembered  that  her 
mother  was  coming  up  to  see  her 
and  her  playmate. 

The  little  girl  sat  down  by  her. 
She  put  out  her  pretty  fine  hand 
111 


^1*       /IN     THE     CLOSED     ROOM 

«T~* 


and  touched  Judith  for  the  first 
time.  She  laid  her  little  pointed 
fingers  on  her  forehead  and  Judith 
fell  asleep. 

It  seemed  only  a  few  minutes 
before  she  wakened  again.  The 
little  girl  was  standing  by  her. 

"Come,"  she  said. 

They  went  out  together  onto 
the  roof  among  the  flowers,  but  a 
strange— a  beautiful  thing  had  hap 
pened.  The  garden  did  not  end  at 
the  parapet  and  the  streets  and 
houses  were  not  below.  The  little 
112 


lN THE     CLOSED     ROOM 

garden  ended  in  a  broad  green 
pathway  —  green  with  thick,  soft 
grass  and  moss  covered  with 
trembling  white  and  blue  bell-like 
flowers.  Trees  —  fresh  leaved  as  if 
spring  had  just  awakened  them  - 
shaded  it  and  made  it  look  smiling 
fair.  Great  white  blossoms  tossed 
on  their  branches  and  Judith  felt 
that  the  scent  in  the  air  came  from 
them.  She  forgot  the  city  was  be 
low,  because  it  was  millions  and 
millions  of  miles  away,  and  this 
was  where  it  was  right  to  be.  There 
was  no  mistake.  This  was  real.  All 
113 


IN     THE     CLOSED     ROOM 


the  rest  was  unreal  —  and  millions 
and  millions  of  miles  away. 

They  held  each  other's  slim- 
pointed  hands  and  stepped  out  up 
on  the  broad,  fresh  green  pathway. 
There  was  no  boundary  or  end  to 
its  beauty,  and  it  was  only  another 
real  thing  that  coming  towards 
them  from  under  the  white,  flower 
ing  trees  was  Aunt  Hester. 

In  the  basement  Jane  Foster  was 
absorbed  in  her  labours,  which  were 
things  whose  accustomedness  pro 
vided  her  with  pleasure.  She  was 
114 


w 


/0  IN     THE     CLOSED     ROOM         Ti^ 

«^H ^ 


fond  of  her  scrubbing,  she  enjoyed 
the  washing  of  her  dishes,  she  defi 
nitely  entertained  herself  with  the 
splash  and  soapy  foam  of  her  wash- 
tubs  and  the  hearty  smack  and 
swing  of  her  ironing.  In  the  days 
when  she  had  served  at  the  ribbon 
counter  in  a  department  store,  she 
had  not  found  life  as  agreeable  as 
she  had  found  it  since  the  hours 
which  were  not  spent  at  her  own 
private  sewing  machine  were  given 
to  hearty  domestic  duties  provid 
ing  cleanliness,  savoury  meals,  and 
comfort  for  Jem. 

115 


/||y    /IN     THE     CLOSED     ROOM 

tT* 


She  was  so  busy  this  particular 
afternoon  that  it  was  inevitable 
that  she  should  forget  all  else  but 
the  work  which  kept  her  on  her 
knees  scrubbing  floors  or  on  a 
chair  polishing  windows,  and  after 
wards  hanging  before  them  bits  of 
clean,  spotted  muslin. 

She  was  doing  this  last  when  her 
attention  being  attracted  by  wheels 
in  the  street  stopping  before  the 
door,  she  looked  out  to  see  a 
carriage  door  open  and  a  young 
woman,  dressed  in  exceptionally 
deep  mourning  garb,  step  onto 
116 


_ 


£> 


(5; 


iN     THE     CLOSED     ROOM 


the  pavement,  cross  it,  and  ascend 
the  front  steps. 

" Who's  she?"  Jane  exclaimed 
disturbedly.  "Does  she  think  the 
house  is  to  let  because  it's  shut?" 
A  ring  at  the  front  door  bell  called 

her  down  from  her  chair.  Among 

o 

the  duties  of  a  caretaker  is  natu 
rally  included  that  of  answering  the 
questions  of  visitors.  She  turned 
down  her  sleeves,  put  on  a  fresh 
apron,  and  ran  up-stairs  to  the  en 
trance  hall. 

When  she  opened  the  door,  the 
tall,  young  woman  in  black  stepped 
117 


Aff  *    Jl  N     THE     CLOSED     ROOM 


o  o 

inside  as  if  there  were  no  reason 
for  her  remaining  even  for  a  mo 
ment  on  the  threshold. 

"I  am  Mrs.  Haldon,"  she  said. 
"  I  suppose  you  are  the  caretaker  ?  " 

Haldon  was  the  name  of  the 
people  to  whom  the  house  be 
longed.  Jem  Foster  had  heard  only 
the  vaguest  things  of  them,  but 
Jane  remembered  that  the  name 
was  Haldon,  and  remembering 
that  they  had  gone  away  because 
they  had  had  trouble,  she  recog 
nized  at  a  glance  what  sort  of 
trouble  it  had  been.  Mrs.  Haldon 
118 


<3: 


^I5L  IN     THE     CLOSED     ROOM 

«TH 


was  tall  and  young,  and  to  Jane 
Foster's  mind,  expressed  from  head 
to  foot  the  perfection  of  all  that 
spoke  for  wealth  and  fashion. 
Her  garments  were  heavy  and  rich 
with  crape,  the  long  black  veil, 
which  she  had  thrown  back,  swept 
over  her  shoulder  and  hung  behind 
her,  serving  to  set  forth,  as  it  were, 
more  pitifully  the  white  wornness 
of  her  pretty  face,  and  a  sort  of 
haunting  eagerness  in  her  haggard 
eyes.  She  had  been  a  smart,  lovely, 
laughing  and  lovable  thing,  full  of 
pleasure  in  the  world,  and  now  she 
119 


^E>       J    IN      THE     CLOSE  D     ROOM 

was  so  stricken  and  devastated  that 
she  seemed  set  apart  in  an  awful 
lonely  world  of  her  own. 

She  had  no  sooner  crossed  the 
threshold  than  she  looked  about 
her  with  a  quick,  smitten  glance 
and  began  to  tremble.  Jane  saw  her 
look  shudder  away  from  the  open 
door  of  the  front  room,  where  the 
chairs  had  seemed  left  as  if  set  for 
some  gathering,  and  the  wax- white 
flowers  had  been  scattered  on  the 
floor. 

She  fell  into  one  of  the  carved 
hall  seats  and  dropped  her  face  in- 
120 


JL  , 

^>.L^     IN     THE     CLOSED     ROOM 


* 


to  her  hands,  her  elbows  resting  on 
her  knees. 

"Oh!  No!  No!"  she  cried.  "I 
can't  believe  it.  I  can't  believe 
it!" 

Jane  Foster's  eyes  filled  with 
good-natured  ready  tears  of  sym 
pathy. 

''Won't  you  come  up-stairs, 
ma'am  ?  "  she  said.  "  Wouldn't  you 
like  to  set  in  your  own  room  per 
haps?" 

"No!  No!"  was  the  answer. 
"She  was  always  there!  She  used 
to  come  into  my  bed  in  the  morn- 


iN     THE     CLOSED     ROOM 


ing.  She  used  to  watch  me  dress  to 
go  out.  No!  No!" 

"I'll  open  the  shutters  in  the 
library,"  said  Jane. 

"Oh!  No!  No!  No!  She  would 
be  sitting  on  the  big  sofa  with  her 
fairy  story-book.  She's  everywhere 
-  everywhere !  How  could  I  come ! 
Why  did  I!  But  I  couldn't  keep 
away!  I  tried  to  stay  in  the  moun 
tains.  But  I  couldn't.  Something 
dragged  me  day  and  night.  Nobody 
knows  I  am  here!"  She  got  up  and 
looked  about  her  again.  "I  have 
never  been  in  here  since  I  went  out 
122 


I  N     THE     CLOSED     ROOM 


with  her,"  she  said.  "They  would 
not  let  me  come  back.  They  said  it 
would  kill  me.  And  now  I  have 
come  —  and  everything  is  here  —all 
the  things  we  lived  with  —  and  she 
is  millions  and  millions  —  and  mil 
lions  of  miles  away!" 

"Who  —  who  —  was  it?"  Jane 
asked  timidly  in  a  low  voice. 

"It  was  my  little  girl,"  the  poor 
young  beauty  said.  "It  was  my 
little  Andrea.  Her  portrait  is  in  the 
library." 

Jane  began  to  tremble  somewhat 
herself. 

123 


^Ifj        TIN     THE     CLOSED     ROOM 

*^-< 


"That — ?"  she  began  —  and 
ended:  "She  is  dead?" 

Mrs.  Haldon  had  dragged  her 
self  almost  as  if  unconsciously  to 
the  stairs.  She  leaned  against  the 
newel  post  and  her  face  dropped 
upon  her  hand. 

"Oh!  I  don't  know!"  she  cried. 
"I  cannot  believe  it.  How  could  it 
be?  She  was  playing  in  her  nur 
sery  —  laughing  and  playing  —  and 
she  ran  into  the  next  room  to  show 
me  a  flower  —  and  as  she  looked  up 
at  me— laughing,  I  tell  you— laugh 
ing  —  she  sank  slowly  down  on  her 
124 


1 


<£-[ 


IN     THE     CLOSED     ROOM 


"ft. 


knees — and  the  flower  fell  out  of  her 
hand  quietly — and  everything  went 
out  of  her  face  —  everything  was 
gone  away  from  her,  and  there  was 
never  anything  more  —  never!" 

Jane  Foster's  hand  had  crept  up 
to  her  throat.  She  did  not  know 
what  made  her  cold. 

"My  little  girl — "  she  began, 
"her  name  is  Judith— 

"Where  is  she  ?"  said  Mrs.  Hal- 
don  in  a  breathless  way. 

"She  is  up-stairs,"  Jane  answer 
ed  slowly.  "She  goes  —  into  that 
back  room— on  the  fourth  floor—" 
125 


^§5  IN     THE     CLOSED     EOOM 

*  * 

Mrs.  Haldon  turned  upon  her 
with  wide  eyes. 

"It  is  locked!"  she  said.  "They 
put  everything  away.  I  have  the 
key." 

"The  door  opens  for  her,"  said 
Jane.  "She  goes  to  play  with  a 
little  girl  —  who  comes  to  her.  I 
think  she  comes  over  the  roof  from 
the  next  house." 

"There  is  no  child  there!"  Mrs. 
Haldon  shuddered.  But  it  was  not 
with  horror.  There  was  actually  a 
wild  dawning  bliss  in  her  face. 
"What  is  she  like?" 
126 


IN     THE     CLOSED     R  O  O  M 


"She  is  like  the  picture."  Jane 
scarcely  knew  her  own  monoto 
nous  voice.  The  world  of  real 
things  was  being  withdrawn  from 
her  and  she  was  standing  without 
its  pale  —  alone  with  this  woman 
and  her  wild  eyes.  She  began  to 
shiver  because  her  warm  blood  was 
growing  cold.  "  She  is  a  child  with 
red  hair  —  and  there  is  a  deep 
dimple  near  her  mouth.  Judith  told 
me.  You  must  not  touch  her." 

She  heard  a  wild  gasp  —  a  flash 
of  something  at  once  anguish  and 
rapture  blazed  across  the  haggard, 
127 


9* 


iN     THE     CLOSED     ROO  M 


young  face  —  and  with  a  swerving 
as  if  her  slight  body  had  been  swept 
round  by  a  sudden  great  wind, 
Mrs.  Haldon  turned  and  fled  up 
the  stairs. 

Jane  Foster  followed.  The  great 
wind  swept  her  upward  too.  She 
remembered  no  single  intake  or 
outlet  of  breath  until  she  was  upon 
the  fourth  floor. 

The  door  of  the  Closed  Room 
stood  wide  open  and  Mrs.  Haldon 
was  swept  within. 

Jane  Foster  saw  her  stand  in  the 
middle  of  the  room  a  second,  a  tall, 
128 


qp 


IN     THE     CLOSED     ROOM 


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swaying  figure.  She  whirled  to  look 
about  her  and  flung  up  her  arms 
with  an  unearthly  rapturous,  whis 
pered  cry  : 

"It  is  all  as  she  left  it  when  she 
ran  to  me  and  fell.  She  has  been 
here  —  to  show  me  it  is  not  so  far  !  " 

She  sank  slowly  upon  her  knees, 
wild  happiness  in  her  face  —  wild 
tears  pouring  down  it. 

"She  has  seen  her!"  And  she 
stretched  forth  yearning  arms  to 
wards  the  little  figure  of  Judith, 
who  lay  quiet  upon  the  sofa  in  the 
corner.  "Your  little  girl  has  seen 
129 


IN     THE     CLOSED      ROOM 


her  —  and  I  dare  not  waken  her. 
She  is  asleep." 

Jane  stood  by  the  sofa  —  looking 
down.  When  she  bent  and  touched 
the  child  the  stillness  of  the  room 
seemed  to  have  got  into  her  blood. 

"No,"  she  said,  quivering,  but 
with  a  strange  simplicity.  "No! 
not  asleep!  It  was  this  way  with 
her  Aunt  Hester." 

THE   END 


T  H  K      M  c  C  LU  R  E      PRESS,      NEW      YORK 


A     000138265     4 


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